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List of alumni of Christ Church, Oxford

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A list of alumni of Christ Church, Oxford, one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. Its alumni include politicians, lawyers, bishops, poets, and academics.

At least thirteen British prime ministers have been educated at Christ Church, including Sir Robert Peel (Prime Minister 1834–1835 & 1841–1846), Anthony Eden (1955–1957) and William Ewart Gladstone (1892–94, 1886, 1880–85, & 1868–74). At least ten Chancellors of the Exchequer have also been educated at Christ Church including Nigel Lawson (1983–1989) and William Murray (Lord Chief Justice 1756–1788 and Chancellor of the Exchequer 1757) as well as other prominent UK politicians such as Quintin McGarel Hogg (Lord Chancellor 1979–1987). Christ Church has also educated many people who have gone on to take prominent political roles abroad, such as Zulfikar Ali Bhutto (former Prime minister of Pakistan), Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (Chairman of the Pakistan Peoples Party), S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike (Prime Minister of Ceylon (later Sri Lanka)) and Charles Cotesworth Pinckney.

A number of members of royal families were educated at Christ Church including King Edward VII (1841–1910), King of the United Kingdom and Emperor of India and his brother Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany as well as King William II of the Netherlands, Prince Abbas Hilmi from the Egyptian royal family, and Prince Hassan bin Talal from the Jordanian royal family.

There are numerous former students in the fields of academia and theology including seventeen Archbishops, most recently Rowan Williams (Archbishop of Canterbury 2002–2012). Other students in these areas include George Kitchin (the first chancellor of the University of Durham and Dean of Durham Cathedral), John Charles Ryle (first Bishop of Liverpool), John Wesley (leader of the Methodist movement), Richard William Jelf (Principal of King's College London), Ronald Montagu Burrows (Principal of King's College London) and Bishop William Stubbs (Bishop of Oxford and historian). Prominent philosophers including John Locke, John Rawls, Sir A. J. Ayer and Daniel Dennett also studied at Christ Church.

Albert Einstein was elected to undertake a 5-year Research Studentship in 1931,[1][2][3][4][5] philosopher and polymath Robert Hooke and developmental biologist Sir John B. Gurdon (co-winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine), physician Sir Archibald Edward Garrod, the Father of Modern Medicine Sir William Osler, biochemist Kenneth Callow, radio astronomer Sir Martin Ryle and epidemiologist Sir Richard Doll are all associated with the college.

A number of successful businessmen have also been educated at Christ Church including Alex Beard (Glencore), Sir Michael Moritz (Sequoia Capital), Crispin Odey (hedge fund manager), Jacob Rothschild (N M Rothschild & Sons), Nicky Oppenheimer (De Beers), Peter Moores (Littlewoods), James A. Reed (Reed group), and Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (twins associated with the founding of Facebook).

The college has educated six Olympic gold medalists including Jonny Searle in rowing. Other notable alumni include entrepreneur and founder of Pennsylvania William Penn, broadcaster David Dimbleby, composer Sir William Walton and the writers Lewis Carroll and W. H. Auden.

The college accepted men only for over four centuries, until 1980,[6] which explains the dearth of women on this list of notable alumni.

The following list is not comprehensive and a fuller list can be found in the Category: Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford.

UK and foreign royalty

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King Edward VII

British Prime Ministers

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Anthony Eden
Name Party Years in Office
Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon Conservative 1955–1957
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery Liberal 1894–1895
Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby Conservative 1852, 1858–1859, 1866–1868
George Canning Tory 1827
George Grenville Whig 1763–1765
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury Conservative 1885–1886, 1886–1892, 1895–1902
Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool Tory 1812–1827
Sir Alec Douglas-Home, Baron Home of the Hirsel Conservative 1963–1964
Sir Robert Peel Conservative 1834–1835, 1841–1846
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland Whig (1783), Tory (1807–1809) 1783, 1807–1809
William Ewart Gladstone Liberal 1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886, 1892–1894
William Petty, 2nd Earl of Shelburne Whig 1782–1783
William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville Whig 1806–1807
William Pulteney, 1st Earl of Bath Whig 1746 (For two days)

Politicians and civil servants

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Charles Abbot, 1st Baron Colchester

UK Cabinet Members

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Current UK MPs

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Former UK MPs

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Members of the House of Lords

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Members of the European Parliament

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Foreign politicians

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Civil servants and diplomats

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Members of the UK Supreme Court

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Viceroys and Governors General

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Philosophers

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Sir Michael Dummett

Theologians

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John Wesley

Academics

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Mathematicians and scientists

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Robert Hooke

Sports people

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Artists and writers

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Lewis Carroll

Marina Hyde

Performing Arts

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Riz Ahmed

Journalists and Broadcasters

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David Dimbleby

Business

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Other people

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References

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  1. ^ a b Fox, Robert (9 May 2018). "Einstein in Oxford". Notes Rec. 72 (3): 293–318. doi:10.1098/rsnr.2018.0002. ISSN 0035-9149.
  2. ^ a b Grenville, Anthony (February 2004). "Sebastian Flyte, Meet Albert Einstein ..." Association of Jewis Refugees. 4 (2): 5. (link: PDF page).
  3. ^ a b Liese, Debra (1 December 2015). "Andrew Robinson to talk on 'Einstein in Oxford' at Christ Church". Princeton University Press Blog. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  4. ^ a b Fenton, Ben (8 February 2008). "Einstein's taxing time at Oxford". Financial Times. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  5. ^ a b Robinson, Andrew (2015). "Einstein in Oxford" (PDF). Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  6. ^ Communication from Judith Curthoys, college archivist
  7. ^ Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh, ed. (1980). Burke's Royal Families of the World. Vol. II: Africa & the Middle East. London: Burke's Peerage. p. 35. ISBN 978-0-85011-029-6.
  8. ^ "Chemoil Energy Limited Annual Report 2011" (PDF). Chemoil.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 16 June 2017.
  9. ^ "Argentina's holdout saga: pacta sunt servanda". Financial Times. Retrieved 4 May 2018.
  10. ^ Church, Christ. "Development Matters 2015–2016 Report" (PDF).
  11. ^ "Obituary: Sir Peter Green". The Independent. 31 July 1996. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  12. ^ "Peter Green". oxforddnb.com. Retrieved 1 September 2017.
  13. ^ Jamie Doward (30 March 2019). "Honours system under scrutiny after sex abuser kept title for years". The Observer. Retrieved 1 April 2019.